SIT to submit Ishrat Jahan probe report

Ahmedabad: The special investigation team (SIT) probing the Ishrat Jahan case will submit its final report to the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday.

Ishrat was killed in Ahmedabad in 2004 in a police encounter along with three others. The police claimed she was a terrorist, but it has been alleged that the encounter was stage-managed. The SIT report will give its finding whether the encounter was fake or not.

The encounter was carried out by a team led by Ahmedabad Crime Branch led by DIG DG Vanjara, who is presently under custody in connection with the case.

During the last hearing SIT head RR Verma had sought more time from the division bench of Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Abhilasha Kumari, saying that some points in the FSL and AIIMS reports needed clarification.

The bench then asked the SIT to submit the final report on October 5. The next hearing would be on October 7.

SIT had called a team from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi, for reconstruction of the case and collection of data.

Verma said that though both the institutions had sent reports, the SIT had some queries, and as they were of technical nature, the AIIMS Central Board will take some time to reply.

Following which the High Court directed that AIIMS should give its reply within two weeks.

It also ordered the Gujarat government not to transfer any of the officials associated with the SIT out of Ahmedabad till the investigation was over, after Verma informed that one of the officials had been transferred outside. The court ordered that this officer be transferred back to the city.